The Woman In The Cage
by darkestboy
Summary: The Doctor, Ace and Hex find themselves caught in the middle of a scheme with the Master and the Rani. Set after Survival.


**Name: **The Woman In The Cage  
**Characters: **7th Doctor, Ace McShane, Hex Schofield, The Rani  
**Synopsis: **On an unknown planet, a woman finds herself imprisoned and forced to help a dangerous race with the intent of destruction. The Doctor finds himself surprised to learn the woman's identity and is forced to work with her when Ace and Hex are caught in the crossfire. Set directly after _Short Trips: The History Of Christmas_ story, _Presence_.

There were many things that greatly annoyed a woman such as the Rani. Being exiled from her own planet hadn't been a walk in the park as were the council's attempts of stifling her own creativity but that was something she could handle. She had never really been a sentimental Time Lord and banishment from a race as dull as her own had actually been a blessing in disguise when she thought about it a bit further.

No, that wasn't what was troubling her. Nor was it the two recent encounters that she had with the Doctor in two of incarnations, neither of which she had found agreeable. Or the annoying human females he had travelled with or even the interference of the Master in one of her schemes during the Industrial Revolution.

Not even losing control of a few experiments had beaten her spirits but the fate that had awaited her certainly had put a damper on things. She had returned to the planet that she had ruled with an iron fist, only to be taken at gunpoint and dragged back into her TARDIS and forced to detour to another world.

Once she had arrived, she had been brought before the High Councillor of this world. She had kept her tongue and listened as he gave her a simple choice — help with his people's aspirations or face imprisonment and eventual death. When she didn't answer quickly enough, she was tossed into a cage and left there.

Three hours had passed and after the meagre food that she had become accustomed to, she had her first real visitor, the High Councillor, who had his arms folded and kept a safe distance from her.

"You've finally come to see me," the Rani mused, her hands grasping the bars of her cage as she smiled. "You end my life and this whole project goes down with it."

"So, you will help me?" the High Councillor asked, walking towards the Rani, circling her confinement.

"Provided I am released from your custody and left well alone," the Rani said. "You have my services."

"Once you help me set out my goal, you can have anywhere in the galaxy to hide from me," the Councillor sneered. "I might even let you run that little planet you already took."

The Rani scowled a little but found the Councillor coming near enough to undo the lock on her cage. He stepped back, giving her a chance to step out of the cage and face him. Instinctively he had had the sense of having two burly green guards at his side in case she tried anything stupid.

"For my own safety," the Councillor smiled at her to heighten the patronising tone of his voice. The Rani was not impressed.

"Of course," the Rani said briskly. "But I will need one more thing."

"What is it?" the Councillor asked, unsure of what the female Time Lord was going to request.

"In order to pull something as sophisticated as this off," the Rani began looking around. "I will need some assistance."

"I have the best scientific team at your disposal," the Councillor countered. "But I take it they might not be enough for you?"

"I need a mind to rival my own," the Rani said. "And I know the exact person for the job. Of course he'll need a little incentive but I think that's where you'd come in, Councillor."

"And this man has a name?"

"He calls him the Doctor," the Rani tutted with an air of annoyance in her tone. "A redundant title of sorts but almost apt for his woolly way of thinking."

"And how do I find him?"

"He'll come to us," the Rani smiled.

"How do you know that?" the Councillor looked at her with suspicion in his eyes.

"I take it you didn't look around my TARDIS then," the Rani couldn't help but laugh. "Let's just say that I have something's he's missing. Something that he will very much want bad."

"Make that someone," another green soldier spoke as it entered the room, dragging a broad shouldered figured with him, who was bound and tightly gagged.

The young man known as Hex Schofield whimpered with the gag tight around his mouth and couldn't move from the iron grip the gruff soldier had on his left arm. He eyed the Rani, the Councillor with a flicker of anger and dread in his eyes.

The Rani stepped forward and observed the young man, looking at the fire in his eyes. When she touched his face, Hex flinched and in retaliation, she grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact with her.

"Don't worry my boy," the Rani smiled at Hex. "You'll see your precious Doctor and Ace once again. They won't abandon you. Until then, you can have my former lodgings."

Hex looked at her in disgust as the soldier flung him into the cage and slammed the door shut, locking him inside. Hex could only look on as the five of them stared at him, sizing him up as if he were a meal to them.

"How do you know he'll come?" the Councillor asked as he kept his focus on Hex struggling with his restraints.

"Because the Doctor's attachment to his companions is one of the fewest weaknesses that he has that can be exploited," the Rani folded her arms. "He'll come for the male alright."

And with that, the Rani, the Councillor and one of the soldiers left Hex to his prison with two soldiers standing guard in case he tried to escape. Hex looked on, surrounded by darkness and dreading the moment that the Doctor and Ace landed on this planet. Whatever the Rani and that High Councillor, Hex knew that it couldn't be good.

"I don't like this, Professor," Ace confessed as the TARDIS began to land and she held onto the console. "It's like we're being -"

"- lured into a trap with Hex as bait?" the Doctor finished for her. "If there was anyway we could use the element of surprise against her, I would've thought of something by now. The Rani has us where she wants us to be sadly."

Ace said nothing in response. She knew the Doctor was right and she was more worried about Hex's safety than whatever trap the Rani had cooked up for them. However that it didn't stop her from picking up her silver baseball bat that Hex had gotten her as a Christmas present whilst in New York. The Doctor gave her a dubious look.

"Ace," he said softly.

"Insurance," Ace gripped the baseball bat with both hands. "Just in case."

"Good girl," the Doctor smiled. "Though hopefully it won't come to that. Then again, it is the Rani we're being forced to deal with."

Ace stepped out of the TARDIS first and gave something of a yelp upon her surroundings. When the Doctor heard the grunt of a wounded male, he rushed out of the ship faster.

"I see you came prepared," the Rani smiled as the Doctor one soldier on the ground clutching his stomach while the other was trying to keep a hold on Ace. The baseball bat lay on the floor.

"Get off me, you scumbag," Ace growled as the gruff soldier grabbed her by the shoulder and by her hair in order to keep her still.

"Are they always this restless?" the Rani glanced at her but it was obvious that the question was being addressed to the Doctor. "Though she would make for a promising experiment."

"Don't even think about it," the Doctor warned the female Time Lord. When he attempted to come to Ace's aid, the wounded soldier had risen from the ground and hauled him back from the incredibly irritated and struggling Ace.

"Not so fast," the Rani scoffed at the Doctor, who couldn't get the soldier to budge one bit. "We have some business to attend to."

"Where is Hex?" the Doctor asked and not in the most polite of tones either. "If you've done anything to him."

"He's safe," the Rani smiled thinly before looking at Ace struggling with her captor. "And she will be too, provided you do everything I say. Put her with the male."

"No, you don't," Ace struggled, before being hauled off she shouted. "Professor."

"Let her go!"

The Doctor made an attempt to try and grab for Ace but the soldier holding onto him slammed him against the wall and stood in his way, blocking him from running to her aid. The Rani looked at the Doctor, noticing the anger in his eyes. He really didn't like defeat at all. Then again, neither did she and sadly she realised that the two of them had something in common. Not that she would dare to admit such a thing to the Doctor. She'd never live it down for one thing.

"Whatever it is your planning," the Doctor started off on his tangent. "I'll not take part in it. Do you understand? I don't care about your sadistic experiments; you are going to let my friends, now!"

"You arrogant fool," the Rani slapped the Doctor across the face. "I have no desire to keep your friends anymore than I want to stay on this godforsaken dump of a planet but it seems that both you and I are needed to work together."

"By whom?" the Doctor felt his cheek, pretty sure that the slap he had received a moment ago would leave quite a mark. The Rani could certainly hit hard, he had to give her that.

"That would be me," an older man with thinning white hair and dressed in a purple and black robe stepped out from the shadows and extended his hand out to shake. "You must be the Doctor."

The Doctor warily shook the other man's hand and stepped back a little. "If you wanted a favour, you could've simply asked."

"I prefer a more direct approach," the other man smiled as he place a hand on the Rani's shoulder. "And according to the Rani, you are the very best."

"She said that?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow in suspicion of the white haired man and the female Time Lord. "At what exactly?"

The Rani smiled a little darker and the Doctor realised that whatever the answer was going to be, it would not be one that he liked.

Hex had been moved out of the cage and into a regular cell, where his gag had been removed and his wrists were chained to the walls as he sat on a rather hard and comfortable looking thing that he figured was supposed to be a bed of some kind. Then he heard a commotion outside and recognised a familiar voice.

"You have company," growled an angry soldier as Ace was shoved into the cell headfirst, hitting the wall and then the ground.

"Ace!" Hex was delighted to see her but the limits of his restraints meant that he was unable to come within touching distance of the annoyed girl.

"Good to see you," Ace smiled as the same soldier hauled her up off the ground and began to restrain her to the other side of the cell with the same type of chains.

"You two can catch up," the soldier sneered as he left the cell and locked it behind him. "It's not like you'll be going anywhere else in a hurry."

Both Hex and Ace looked at each other, first in a moment of forlorn but then Hex noticed a slow smile beginning to form on Ace's face as she raised a hand to her hair and produced a rather simple hairpin. Then Hex began to smile.

Back in the laboratory where the Doctor had found himself escorted to by two more of this mysterious Councillor's green men, he had listened to the proposal that the man made and the fact that with Ace and Hex as collateral, he had no choice but to agree.

"So, it's agreed then?" the Councillor smiled at both the Doctor and the Rani in a mentor like fashion.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" the Doctor said curtly.

"You had a fair choice and chose wisely," the Councillor reminded him. "It doesn't mean you have to like it, just to carry it through. For your friends if nothing else."

The Doctor responded with a stony silence as the Rani did her best to look as absent as she possibly could.

"Then I'll leave you both to carry on," the Councillor smiled, before nodding to two more soldiers who entered the laboratory. "Watch them."

The soldiers nodded and with that, the Councillor left and the Doctor and the Rani were left in a laboratory and the blueprints of a deadly device. The Rani smirked, before looking at the Doctor.

"You know what this means?" she asked, before he gave her a look that would stop a man dead. "Of course you do, it's why you're sulking again. You really don't like it when things aren't going you way, Doctor. Besides, it's not everyday you get to help a mad man devise a weapon to take over the universe. You should be very proud of yourself."

The Doctor seethed with the last few words of the Rani. Unfortunately she was also very, very right. Ace and Hex would never forgive him if he carried this deed out but with the soldiers on the alert and the Rani keenly desperate to do anything to get her off this planet, he knew he was going to have to think of something fast in order to stop the chaos he was being asked to unleash on the universe.

As Ace began to undo her shackles, Hex managed to move as far as his restraints would allow him to in order to see if there was any expected company ahead. When there wasn't, he had looked with the ease that Ace seemed to have with undoing her restraints.

"What?" Ace looked up, catching his smile as she freed herself and began to move towards the young nurse.

"I didn't realise how good you were at this sort of thing," Hex extended his wrists out to Ace, allowing her to work on his restraints.

"Live and learn," Ace smiled. "I should say that being with the Professor helped me with this type of situation but -,"

"- You'd be lying?" Hex offered. "I've been travelling with the two of you for a while and there's still so much I don't know about you. Both of you in fact."

Ace avoided his gaze, knowing that Hex was pressing her for something deep, something personal. She could've used this moment to tell him something about her family background, Perivale but she diverted his attention by freeing him instead. At some point she would open up to him about her life before he joined her and the Doctor.

"There," Ace looked up at Hex and smiled, holding the manacles in her hand before tossing them to the side. "Now for the hard part."

Both Ace and Hex headed for the door. Hex kept a watchful eye through the tiny hole in the door that could've been a window while Ace worked on the lock itself.

The Rani had been surprised with the Doctor standing there quietly, looking at the schematics for the Councillor's project. This whole weapon itself could give him dominion over the universe. It could also give her the same amount of power but it wasn't something she found herself lusting for. She liked the world that she had dominion over. For the time being, she did not need another.

"If you keep stalling, Doctor, they'll not hesitate to kill both your companions," the Rani grabbed the schematics from the Doctor. "I think you've looked over this enough."

"You do have an annoying knack for stating the obvious, don't you, Rani?" the Doctor asked. "And I was familiarising myself with the blueprints."

"Looking for a way to sabotage it," the Rani said in a low voice. "Believe me; I considered the option briefly myself."

"Why didn't you act on it?"

"What would be the point?" the Rani smirked. "I have no intentions of dying on this dire little world and the Councillor seems to be such an idiot that I almost feel sorry for him."

"You feel sorry for him?" the Doctor looked at the female Time Lord with disgust. "So, for your own survival and a morbid curiosity, you're happy to let someone like him have the kind of power even our own race would object."

"Except the Master," the Rani muttered under her breath. "What's the point in fighting this one, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at her with renewed suspicion. This was not the same woman that he was accustomed to. The Rani he knew might not have had aspirations of universal dominion but there was no way she would ever submit herself to anyone freely as she was doing now. Something was amiss, more than usual. There was a glint in her eye that also indicated something wrong.

Ace and Hex had managed to get out of the cell with as little fuss as they imagine but as soon as they were free, they encountered another, uncomforting problem — being lost. The soldiers that had dragged Ace to Hex had moved at such a speedy pace once out of view from the Doctor that she hadn't been able to process where they were taking her too. By the look on Hex's face, Ace feared that he too was confused in regards to their whereabouts.

"Now what?" Hex has to ask, in order to break the silence. Then he heard footsteps getting closer.

"Guards," Ace muttered as the both of them were spotted by three more of the Councillor's men.

"Get them," shrieked the first soldier as two of his men made a dive for both Ace and Hex.

"Run," Ace shouted, grabbing Hex's hand and dragging him down a corner with the two soldiers giving chase.

They'd have to worry about finding the Doctor later. Right now, they needed to keep running as fast they could from the oafish men after them.

Out of his clothes, the man posing as the Councillor looked at himself in the mirror and smiled with happiness. Two of his fellow rivals were going to help him rule the cosmos and they didn't even know it. Well, the Rani might have figured it out if the situation hadn't been neutralised. For the time being, she was a happy worker. Perhaps if he had offered something to the Doctor, he'd yield the same result from him too.

Looking at the security camera in the room, he could see that the Doctor was getting some encouragement from his soldiers to work at the project more diligently. No doubt the Doctor was trying to figure out ways to sabotage the project but with Ace and Hex as leverage and the Rani under the influence of one of her own past concoctions, this time around the other Time Lord would get the exact results he wanted.

The project was coming along at an alarming pace. The Rani had surprisingly taken a helpful role in assisting the Doctor to apply each of the parts of the object with little fuss as possible. The butt of a rifle kept the Doctor from deliberately going off course with the work as well but it still didn't stop him from giving the Rani an odd look.

"What?" the Rani finally asked, an irritation etching in her voice that was familiar and comforting at the same time.

"You're not yourself," the Doctor looked at her, almost in a paternal manner. The woman was a genius but she was also never this submissive either.

"Hand me the final part," the Rani gestured towards an angular looking piece of metal, shaped like a thumb. "I can do this if you don't have the stomach for it."

"This isn't you, ruthless as you are."

"For once in your life, Doctor," the Rani snapped at him. "Do as you're told."

"Think about what you're doing," the Doctor warned her as he felt the rifle pressing against his back. "What we're doing. If this actually succeeds. Think of what damage it will cause to the universe. This very glove could rip a hole in the fabric of reality itself. Even you wouldn't want that."

"This isn't about what I want," the Rani smirked. "It's about what he wants. Our Lord and Master."

"What did you say?" the Doctor looked at her again. He had just realised who the mysterious Councillor was after all. He knew that voice had been familiar.

"I said our Lord and -," the Rani's eyes flicker a crimson colour before changing back to their usual one as she too realised. "Master!"

She uttered the last word with pure venom, picking up the glove and smashing it against the soldier who had come up behind her, knocking him out. The Doctor had then used the distraction to the grab the rifle from the soldier behind him and hit him with it, also rendering the soldier unconscious.

"Somebody has some explaining to do," the Doctor muttered ruefully as he eyed the Rani holding the glove tightly. He could destroy it with a clear shot or even with his sonic screwdriver but a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before one of you at least realised who I was," the Master smirked as he gave a low clap of his hands upon entering the laboratory. "But I had hoped that you both would've done it later. Still, what to do?"

The Rani glared at him, her grip tightening on the glove. The Master picked up one of the fallen soldiers stealthy ray guns.

"I'd kill you before you could even use that on me," the Master smirked at the Rani. Then he looked at the Doctor. "I don't need to threaten your life. I'll just threaten theirs."

The Doctor looked on as three more soldiers came into the laboratory grabbing both Ace and Hex, keeping them in firm position as they struggled in their grip. Grudgingly the Doctor dropped the rifle on the ground.

"A wise decision," the Master smiled approvingly as he glanced at the Rani. "Now if you could hand me the glove, I might even let you live, my dear."

"You look shocked to see me, my dear Doctor," the Master smiled as he began to walk towards the other Time Lord, whilst keeping a watchful eye on the Rani. "As do you."

"You had me under your control," the Rani murmured, her grip on the glove tightening even further.

"Yes, I was surprised with how easily that came about," the Master smiled at her. "It's been a long three months."

"Three months?"

"For you however, it felt like a day," the Master laughed. "Funny how I was able to make your mind believe that."

"Who is this guy?" Hex asked Ace as he struggled with the soldier holding onto him tightly. "And what is that thing?"

Hex nodded towards the glove as the Master glanced at the young nurse.

"I am the Master, Mr Schofield and that thing as you so eloquently put is known as a Jubilation Glove."

"What's a Jubilation Glove?" Ace asked, keeping her eyes on the Doctor and the Rani.

"It gives the wearer infinite power," the Doctor said grimly. "With that glove you could conquer civilisations. Shape the universe if you were determined to. But only a mad man would do it."

The Master's face frowned as the Rani began to slip the glove on her hand. If there was a time for infinite power, now would be it. But the Master had other ideas.

"I think he means you," Hex glared at the Master. The Master gave him a wink, not allowing the comment to dampen him in any way.

"Or woman," Ace said gravely, before trying to gesture at both the Doctor and the Master. "Professor."

Neither the Doctor nor the Master had the time to look when a sharp bolt of electricity sent the pair of them spiralling backwards, crashing into Ace and Hex. The Doctor had landed on top of the young girl and her captor while the Master had sent Hex and his captor to the floor. The Rani smiled at them all.

"Three months," the Rani glared at the Master, a murderous look in her eye. "You had me under your control for three months. We'll soon amend that."

"You were never very hard to control, Rani," the Master laughed, rising to his feet as he eyed the glove. His glove. "I just needed you and the Doctor to complete work on my means of power."

"I think you mean mine," the Rani hissed in anger. "Seeing as I mostly built this, I think I am the rightful owner of such power."

"You will submit that glove to me, Rani," the Master hissed as he tried to make eye contact with her. "I am the Master and you will obey me."

"Do you really think stupid mind games are going to work on me now?" the Rani snarled. "I think it's time you learnt the folly of your ways, Master. If there's one thing you never ever do to me, it's keep me captive for so long."

"And why's that?"

"I get bored," the Rani smiled. "And when I get bored, I get creative. And when I have power on my very hand, there's no telling what I'll do next."

"Don't do anything stupid," the Doctor rose to his feet. Hex was standing in front of him but Ace was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll deal with you later," the Rani dismissed him as she focused her attentions on the Master. "As for you, this time you don't come back."

"Do you really think you of all Time Lords can stop me?" the Master asked, pulling out his TEC. "You stupid woman. If I could keep you my prisoner, then you will hand over that glove to me one way or the other."

The Doctor advanced towards the Rani, predicting what would happen next but she was too quick for him and swatted him away with the glove, sending him to the floor.

"Then have it," the Rani snarled as another bolt of electricity shot from the glove. Before the Master could pull the trigger of his TEC, he was split into shards, shrieking in agony before disappearing from the room completely.

"You killed him," the Doctor looked shocked as he rose from the floor again. The Rani was smiling at both him and Hex.

"He had it coming," the Rani said simply. "At least his death offered me the means of ultimate power. I was never a power junkie but I think I'm going to like what this glove can offer me."

The Doctor stared her darkly, which only made the Rani smile a bit more.

"I take it you don't approve," the Rani said as the Jubilation glove was beginning to power up once again. "You won't live long enough to despair."

"Doctor," Hex stammered as he saw a certain someone sneaking up behind the Rani.

"I get to rid the universe of two pests," the Rani smiled. "This really is a good day."

"Not anymore it isn't," the Doctor smiled as he clapped eyes on a familiar face.

"And why's that?" the Rani asked.

"Look behind you," the Doctor said cryptically.

"As if I'm going to fall for the oldest trick in the book," the Rani laughed as she was beginning to take aim for the Doctor and Hex. "Do I look that stupid?"

"Yes," boomed a familiar voice. It was Ace and she picked up one of the soldiers guns. "And this is the oldest trick in the book."

The Rani had no time to respond as Ace belted her with the butt of the rifle, stunning her long enough for Ace to yank the glove off her hand.

"Now, professor," Ace yelled, tossing the gun to the Doctor and running to him and Hex's side.

The Rani raised her head to look at the Doctor, Ace and Hex. She could run but she'd never make it past the door before he'd get her. The look on his face definitely indicated that he was going to get her.

"You never would," the Rani spat at him aggressively. "I'm one of your people."

"And so was he," the Doctor said grimly. "I won't kill you but I will punish you. Want to know how?"

The Rani looked at him harder than she had done before. He was telling the truth about not wanting to kill her but for a second when she realised what he intended to do to her, she almost wished he had.

"No, don't," was the only thing the Rani could say before she was hit with the same charge of electricity she had subjected to the Master. And then she was gone.

"What did you do to her?" Hex looked around, seeing that no trace of the woman was there. During the commotion, they noticed that the Master's soldiers had scarpered.

"I sent her home," the Doctor looked at the young man and then Ace. "Our home."

An image flashed in the Doctor's mind. The Rani had landed on Gallifrey and was captured by the guards. Another image then passed of her in solitary confinement, pending trial for her attempts to subjugate the universe. At some point, the Doctor would have to tell Hex that his abduction had been orchestrated but not now.

"Professor?" Ace said softly, snapping him out of his reverie. "What about the glove?"

"First things first," the Doctor said fiddling around with his sonic screwdriver on the glove. "I'm going to show mercy on someone who doesn't deserve it."

"Oh dear," Ace and Hex said in unison as the Doctor fired the glove.

Shards appeared, reconstructed and then were made flesh. Before them stood the Master, eyes bulging, looking at the glove, wanting it even more. What happened however didn't phase him.

"And you too," was all the Doctor said before the Master also disappeared out of the room.

Another image flashed in his head. The Master in chains, locked also in solitary confinement, awaiting trial. It might not have been the Doctor's place to play judge, jury and executioner but given the disaster that either the Master or the Rani could unleashed with the Jubilation glove, the Time Lords themselves had plenty to say about it.

Before Ace or Hex could say anything else, the Doctor tossed the glove to the floor and took the rifle Ace had been holding onto. Aiming straight for the centre of the glove, the Doctor opened fires until what was left of the glove resembled little more than dust.

"Now we leave," the Doctor said grimly as Ace and Hex both strolled behind him, neither knowing what to say to the Doctor. Within minutes, they left the planet, the name of it, they had never caught.

- The End -


End file.
